Refractory insulation



UNITEDYSTATES PATENT OFFICE. y

PAUL'G. WILLETTS, or rammon'r', wrs'r vmemm REFRACTORY IN SULATION 1,374,538. No Drawing.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL G. WILLErrs, a citizen of the United States, residing at F airmont, in the county of Marion and State of est- Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Refractory Insulations, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to refractory insulation for furnaces, boiler settings, retorts, kilns, ovens, flues, linings, floors, walls, ceilings, and the like.

One object of this invention is to provide compositions of matter for manufactur ng refractory insulation. Another object of this invention is to provide methods by which such compositions may be made into articles having predetermined degrees of refractoriness and heat. insulation. Other objects appear hereinafter.

I give herein a few examples illustrative of my invention. For obtaining results other than these examples secure, the skill of the worker is to some degree needed.

The description following will lay down such rules and principles as will lead those skilled in the artto which this invention relates to reach such. predetermined results as lie within the limits of the invention.

A moist homogeneous mass of silicious open-burning, or porous-burning clay, lignite, and alumina,'all in a more or less finely divided state is formed into a desired article. as a brick, and carefully dried so as to prevent its cracking. A drying temperature around 100 Fshas proved satiscomes only slightly less. a

factory. After the drying is completed to about the ordinary degree, the brick is heated slowly up to, say 160J F. During the heating the lignite undergoes a transformation. the greater part thereof. around 95% of its weight, being driven off in a gaseous condition, the residue being ash collected in pores or cells of the brick.' The brick, having een heated or burned until all the lignite has been transformed. becomes a refractory material having very high heat insulation value, or very high resistance to the penetration of heat; in other words, it has become a very poor conductor of heat. If the brick be heated to a still higher degree. say to 2000 F. or 2300 F the ash in the cells of the brick becomes a glass, slag. or cinder, and thebrick becomes more refractory and its heat-conductivity be- 7 Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 12, 1921, Application filed December 17, 1919. Serial No. 345,470.

Vfhile any plastic open-burning, or porous-burning clay may be used in this invention, Iprefer to utilize a plasticfire-clay having a high silicon content. Besides the high silicon content in chemical combination in the clay, I prefer that the clay carry adbut it is found in nature beneath lignite coal formations. Such clay, particularly when ground to pass through a IOO-mesh screen, is very plastic when mixed with water, has great strength, and can hold large percentages of other material such as silica and grogs used in the manufacture of bricks, for example. f

I pre'fer that the carbonaceous material be lignite coal. It gives best results when ground to pass through a screen having at least four meshes to the inch. It may be employed when ground to enough to float in the air. I

I prefer that the clay ingredientsshall be not under 40% by weight, or the lignite content be not above.60% by weight, prior to burning. I have obtained products of high refractory and heat-insulation values silicious clay, ground to pass through a 100- mesh screen. about 47.5% of lignite coal powder fine ground to pass through an 18-mesh screen,

and not through a 100-mesh screen, and about 5% of alumina, ground to pass through a 100-mesh screen. Of course,good

or fair results can be had, when the fineness of the ingredients vary from that given, without departing from this invention. The lignite may range in size from particles onefourth of an inch across down to a powder light enough to float in air. The clay may range from 25% to by weight, lignite from 5% to 75%; and alumina from- 1% to 10%.

By increasing the clay content, the products become more refractory and by. in-

creasing the lignite content the products have higher heat-insulation value. For example. a brick containing the said silicious clay agate and alumina has very high heat-insulation value with a fusion point around-2900 F, While a brickhaving said clay 94%, lihgnite and alizmina 1% is more-hi" I slightly. less heat-insu atlon value.

' to increase the By addingv to one refractory with Yresistant to fushion may be made by I'BClIlG-',

fing the proportions of one or both clays "and increasing 1 the alumina to "replace the' ,fclay'orclays or more faces'of the';re-

lumi-na is added to the clay andlignitel melting point of the prod ucts. v

fractory insulating material hereinbefore"de.-'

scribed a mixture of plastic bond clay, cal'- cined orraw flint clay, and alumina, a com.- 1, posite body'is formed suitable for high tom-'- peratureconditions, the coated faces withstanding great f shocks without ira'cture,

having excellent wearing qualities, and absorbing' intense heat without. fusion, these results beingeaclr superior to 'what can be hadwithfthe refra'ct( insulating material an rbant or conductor of heat, and the dlaysmay vary from 70% of either one to 10%. of the other,v The lignite may vary from 5% to 50% by weight. vMaterial more This material is satisfactory used in coke-ovens, furnaces, boiler-linings,

flue-lining, chimneys, flues ,.conveyers of heat, and the like.

Thematerlal'fmade by .the principles of 7 this invention are lighter and stronger, and

Ya more reliable fusion-point can be assured for thesame than for ordinary refractory material. I ;The' cells of my material do not 7 alone; two kin s of material can be.

' other'an'insillator ora resistance to the penetration of heat.- Such- "mpo'site material may haveone'compon varying from 1% to 99%,theother compo nt completing the I material. By facingltheirefractory insulat ing "is';;foiined such that the jfaced surface pro- I tefctsi the more .easily"abraded' and broken deeper parts, which' prevent deep penetra-.

materialw-ith the said'refractory materialgj ust described, a composite material tion "by the heat transmittedg through the I iheatis prevented from-passm I" material and being wasted.

insulation whether coatedyor not with facing. vBy such compositefniaterial."the

fiy refractory highly retr'actory material, retains the heat .in the -zone where it is .needed, and, even ifthe ash in the cells is vitrified or turned slag or cinder, its heat-insulatingvalue is retained to su'cha largedegree that such value is still superior to that of'ordinary. fire-brick.

My heat-insulating material may be made nto the required shapes for liningsof refr1gerators,, ice-boxes, tireless cookers, stoves, oetci, and burned to a point where it will not shrink appreciably. 'Thismaterial may after such burning have an enamel face, edge, or slde fused thereupon, thereby makmg the resultant article impervious to water,

fumes, and gases, and strictly sanitar and capable of great resistance to penetration of either heat or cold to any appreciable deee. 7 I For the manufacture of articles for purely refractory purposes, such, for example, as

is required for fire-brick, Ihaveobtained most excellent products by burning material COIDPI'lSlDg raw or,calcined flint clay 50% by we ght, alumina 5% by weight, plastic Sll'lClOllS clay 25% by we1ght, and lignite 20% by weight. The proportion of the two through the contain material '-;whi ch can by expansion position, careshould be taken that the heat i be slow enou hcto allow substantially all of the carbon mithelignite to be eliminated.

In the thorough mixing iiofi the 1 ingredients, the particlesof'thelignitel are surrounded by thin coats or films of -clay. The. heat during burning drives off gases from the lignite through the walls of the cells which the clay forms about the lignite particles. Some air filters through the cell-walls and oxidizes some of the lignite, the gaseous roducts passing out through the cell-walls. t is, therefore, for best results that the heating be conducted both as to temperature and time so as to allow all the carbon of the lignite to be eliminated. If the cell-walls arebrokenjdown or vitrified the egress of the gases from the lignite will be more or l less obstructed, leaving the interior of the article burned article containing a ess , large mass of carbon which materially ens the refractoryand heat-insulating values of the article. When properly burned the finished is substantially homogeneous throughout as to color and structure. It is seenthat the cells in the products are larger as the particles of lignite are larger. When the lignite is powder the products have very fine cells, thoug the contents of all the cells do not probably dili'er from those of products having larger cel s.

While I do not confine myself to a definite theory, it appears that the contraction of the clay' (aluminate of silicon) constituent is off-set very greatly either by the silica or by the expansion of the gaseous products due to the lignite, or by both.

The alumina in my composition raises the fusion point of the product. My material would have very high refractory and heatinsulating values, if alumina were omitted.

garded either present or absent.

fire-clay having a high silica content.

2. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insulating material, containing finely divided carbonaceous material intimately mixed with plastic fire-clay having a high silica content. p

3. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insu- 1 lating matenal, contalning finely dlvided lignite coal intimately mixed with plastic fire-clay having a high silicon content, the

greater part of the silicon being combined in free silica.

4. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insulating material, containing finely divided carbonaceous material intimately mixed with plastic fire-clay having a high silicon content, the greater part of the silicon being combined in freesilica.

5. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insu lating material, containing finely divided lignite coal intimately mixed with plastic fire-clay having a high silicon content, the greater part of the silicon being combined in free silica, and the latter forming about 55% of the clay by weight.

6. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insulating material, containing finely divided carbonaceous material intimately mixed with plastic fire-clay having ahigh silicon content, the greater part of the silicon being combined in free silica, and the latter forming about 55% of the clay by weight.

7. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insulating material, containing finely divided lignite coal intimately mixed with clay and silica. r

8. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insulating material, containing finely 'divide'd lignite coal intimately mixed with clay and silica and .finely divided alumina.

9. A composition of matter to be burned for the production of refractory heat-insulating material, containing finely divided lignite coal intimately mixed with clay and silica inabout equal proportions by weight.

10. A composition of matter to be burned for theproduction of refractory heat-insu- PAUL G. 

